And fbank



F. A. LEE AND F. G. ROSE.

PHONOGRAPH.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-26.1917.

Patented May 13, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

16a entors' Witnesses:

F. A. LEE AND F. G. ROSE.

PHONOGRAPH. APPLICATION FILED 020.25.1917.

1,303,686. Patented May 13, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

imam: a. mm, or cmcnnu'rr, 0310, AND mam: a. nose, or DAYTON, xmrruoxr,

ASSIGNOBS TO THE JOHN CHURCH COMPANY, 01' CINCINNATI, OHIO, A. CORPORATION 01', OHIO.

PHONOGBLPH.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented May 13, 1919.

Application filed December 28, 1817. Serial No. 208,888.

FRANK G. Rosa, citizens of the United States, and residents of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, and Dayton, in the county of Campbell and State of Kentucky, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Phonographs, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to megaphones for phonographs or graphophonea The object of our invention is to intercept and throw back at varying angles, the soundwaves which would otherwlse pass directly from the throat of the megaphone directly out through the mouth thereof, so that these waves strike either against the sides of the megaphone or the throat thereof, and, thus traveling a longer distance and striki vibrating surfaces, are enriched and clarlfied in tone. tion is to take advantage of the vibration of the surfaces against which the sound-waves strike to further enrich and clarify the tone of. the apparatus. 7

Our invention consists in the combination of arts and in the details of construction an arrangement of parts as will herein-- after he more fully described and claimed. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a general perspective view of provided with our improvea phonograph ment;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the megaphone and throat, thelatter being modified from that shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is-a detail perspective view of our improvement, as shown in .Fig. 1, but with.

another modified throat;

Fig. 4 is a section similar to Fig. 2, but

showing the throat of Fig. 1, and showing apluirality of deflectors in the megaphone; an

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate modified deflectors.

For the purpose of illustrating ourinvention, there is shown in Fig. 1 a phono- I motor (not shown) under the topof the casin and which turn-table .2- carries the recor 3 thereon, receiving the stylus Learried in suitable means on the sound-box 5,

- which is mounted on the sound-arm 6, which The further object of our inven-- is fixed on the top of the base 1 by a suitable pedestal 7 at the rear of the tum-table, and being hollo'w and gradually increasing in interior area down to the opening 8 through the top of the base 1 under the edestal- 7 All of this construction is wellown, and, also, in Fig. 1, the throat 9 is of the usual form curving downwardly and forwardly to enter the smaller rear end of the megaphone 10, the large end of which opens through the front of the casing 1 which has an apertured do'or ll, only part of which is shown. i

Ordinarily, the sound-waves traveling from the diaphragm in the sound-box 5 backward and downward through the sound-arm 6 and its hollow pedestal 7 and aperture 8, pass from there .downwardl and forwardly through the throat 9 and di. rectly out through the megaphone 10 and through the apertured door 11. The soundarm, throat and megaphone all being of gradually increasing internal area, the

sound-waves are amplified, but at the same time the combined length of these passages bein considerable, the waves are also confine and somewhat intensified. Also, due to the curvature of the sound-arm and throat,

there are some deflections of the sound-.

waves in their passage therethrough with the result that some of them will be directed against the sides of the megaphone, causing these to vibrate, and causing the soundwaves to travel longer distances. We have discovered that these influences on the sound-waves are in the' direction of enrich-' waves as, in their emergence from the throatinto the megaphone, would not strike the sides of the megaphone at all, but would ,be thrown directly out therefrom without being materially subjected to these influences which we have discovered have a beneficial effect. 4

As we prefer to embody our invention for this purpose, we provide anaocumulator or deflector 12, which consists of a relatively thin element of extended area. placed approximately in the center of cross-section of the megaphone at a suitable point along the length thereof, and. lying across the meg phone substantially at right an les to its length. This accumulator or eflector is preferably somewhat more than half the dimension of cross-section of the megaphone in any direction,so that it leaves one relashown, the cross-section of the megaphone is rectangular, somewhat wider than it is high and the accumulator or deflector 12 is o a proportionate width and height, but prefer-- ably having its corners rounded. This rounding of the corners is to facilitate the manufacture, and, possibly, improve the appearance of the element 12. As shown in Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, the element 12 has its inner side 13 made approximately concave, and to preserve the desired thinness of the element, the outer side 14 is made correspondingly convex; while to preserve the strength thereof, the element is provided with a comparatively thick rim 15 entirely around its edge. The operations necessary on the two sides of the element are more conveniently performed with the corners rounded, as above'described. Otherwise, the corners might be square without materially altering the effect of the element upon the sound-waves. Of course, should the megaphone be made with the corners of its cross section rounded, the 'roundin of the corners of the element'12 would be a so for the purpose of making it conform to the me aphone cross-section; it being understoodt at it is always desirable to have the narrow open space around the deflector or accumulator of about uniform width throughout its length.

therearound. The shapes of the megaphones and the element 12 may vary; but the oblong shape here shown is deemed preferable, as the practical construction nearest approaching the shape of an ellipse, which is considered the best shape of cross-section fora sound-conductor to be.

Also, it will be understood, that the deflector-or accumulator 12 ma be located at an desired distance from tl i sound-waves and the desired length of in- 4 creased travel desired to be imparted to the sound-waves by such deflections. As herein shown, the deflector or accumulator .is located close to the large front open end of the megaphone.

.To support the accumulator or deflector 12 in the proper position across the central part of the. megaphone cross-section, without unduly obstruct the .spacetherea'round next to the megap one walls, we prefer to thin posts -.16 above and below and exten e larger open en of the megaphone, depending upon'the 1* number of deflections to'be imparted to the downward from the edges of the element 12 and at opposite sides extending horizontally outward from the edges of the element 12 and fixed in suitable small pedestals 17 which are attached to the walls of the'megaphone. These posts 16 are attached to the element 12 b bein inserted into holes bored in .the edges 0 the element, and are similarly attached to their pedestals 17, but the pedestals 17 are preferably merely secured to the surface of the megaphone wall in each instance, so as notto unduly break up the continuity of structure of the megaphone.

While these posts 16 serve to support the I deflector 0r accumulator 12, they also act as sound-posts adapted to impart the vibrations of the accumulator or deflector 12 to the walls of the megaphone, and thus constituting the entire megaphone or accumulator and deflector structure a sound device somewhat upon the principle of the shell of a stringed musical mstrument. With this purpose 1n view, we prefer to construct the accumulator or deflector 12 ofwood (preferably spruce, and other woods in combination therewith) and to give it its approximately concavo-convex form by cutting 1t from solid wood, rather than by steaming and bending the wood, which tends to destroy the natural properties of the wood for beneficially afecting sound-waves impinging'thereon or set up by the vibration thereof.

With the modified throat 9 shown in Fig. 2, which throat, in its finalforward exten- *:s1on to the rear endof the mega hone 10,

curves slightly upward, additio a1 deflec tions are afforded in this throat; and how the deflector or accumulator 12 cooperates in this way, causing a greatly increased/length of travel of the sound-waves by successive deflections against the megaphone walls, is

indicated by the broken lines and arrows in provided with a suitable means for joining 26, 1917, Serial No. 208,831. This throat is it.with the under side of the top of the casing 1 to communicate with'theinterior of the sound-arm 6 through the pedestal 7 thereof and the aperture 8 through the casing top, and curves downwardly and to the right (supposing one to be facing the apparatus) this first curve 18 being comparatively abrupt, and then continues to the right and downwardly, and to the left in a 'much 1cm abrupt curve 19, then to the left and upward and to the right again in an-. other large curve 20, passing close under the first curve 18 and then downward approxi- I mately in the center of the apparatus in adownwardly and upwardly in a finalcurve 21, and then curving forwardly and slightly curve 22 where the throat communicates with the smaller 10. This throat, successive curves constantly increasing interior area from its beginning to its end, and preferably has its curved walls sawed out of solid blocks of wood, rather than steamed and bent, for the reasons just given in describing the preferred construction of the accumulator or deflector 12. It will 'beunderstood that this modified throat and the megaphone with the accumulator or deflector 12 rovided, as descri in connection with Fig. 1, would be mounted in the rear end of the megaphone in addition to havin the Fig. 1.

It will be seen that this throat 9 greatly increased length; in fact, being about four times as long as the throat 9 or 9; and, furthermore, the number of deflections of the sound-waves therein is greatly increased; both of which circumstances tend to amplif intensify, enrichen the quality of and clari y the sound-waves, so that they rethe actual quality of the sound-waves imparted from the phonograph-record to the diaphragm. The result of using such a throat is to have the sound-waves emerge into the megaphone in a great variety of directions, on account ofthe varying initial directions which the sound-waves had, because of being produced by the diaphragm vibrating in various positions, accordingly as succeeding vibrations form, which is,

- dicated b p walls and the interior of the begin before preceding ones are completed; with the result that these sound-waves cross and re-cross the megaphone 10 in complex of course, not adequately inthe mere tracing of the-path of one soun -wave, as is approximately done in fioreover, the final curvature of the throat vwhere it enters the megaphone bein upward, as in Fig. 2, this effect is com ined with that of the greatly lengthened and successively curved throat.

The result is that a greatly increased number of deflections of the sound-waves is roduced 'by the accumulator or deflector 12 as it receives these waves in their complex crossing and recrossing of the megaphone, directing them back against the megaphone throat, and causing a new succession of crossings and recrossings, until the wave finally emerges through the open space around the element 12 greatly enrlched and clarified in tone, as

. a. result of having traveled the increased dis- I invention,

tances, and having re eatedlyimpinged upon the vibrating sur aces of the megaphone, throat and element 12.

t is found in practice, with the use of our that through such method of travel of the sound-waves through the megaphone,'as a result of action of the accumulator' or, deflector, either with or without the described, is preferab y of phonograph as shown in 1 is ofgreatlylengthened and curved throat shown in Fig. 3, the waves are not only amplified and intensified, but are made richer in uality and greatly clarified, with the result that they reproduce-with greater fidelity than we have heretofore known, the actual quality of the sounds as they were originally produced, and as they are, of course, expected to be reproduced by a phonograph. We have found in ractice that our improved phonograph, as erein described, iscapa'ble, for instance, of rendering a satisfactory reproduction of piano music which has always presented great difliculty of reproduction heretofore. Moreover, due to this increased clearness caused by the complex travel of the sound-waves, as well as to the reater intensity derived from the accumu ation, due to the action of the deflector or accumulator 12, the phonograph provided with our invention, will, with the usual record and soundbox, and reproducing practicall any kind of music or other roduction, a ord a more satisfactor reproduction to a bearer at a considerab e distancefrom the ISO, on account of the greater somewhat greater amplification is permissible, and this is well rovided by the greatly increased length of t e throat 9" when this is used in conjunction with the accumulator or deflector. This somewhat increased amplification, of course, also makes the apparatus audible at a greater distance.

In the'modification shown in Fig. 4:, the throat of Fig. 1 is shown in section; but it apparatus. intensity,

will be understood that either other throat.

may be used. The modification consists in providing an additional accumulator or deflector 12 some distance farther inward in the megaphone 10 and being constructed the same as the larger one 12 farther outward; but, of course, being correspondin ly smaller in accordance with the decrea cross-section of the megaphone where this additional element 12 is located. The result of this revision is to increase the number of-de- Sections of a sound-wave, after having been deflected, due to the action of the first or inner element 12' are again started through a series of deflections, either against the megaphone wallson the outer side of the inner e ement 12',by strikin the outer elenient12, and finally emerging om the megaphone. In Fig. 5, the element 12" has its inner side 13 plane instead of approximately concave,

and, in accordance therewith, the outer side since many waves,

The result of either one of these ,travel of the waves, and the eifects due to vibration of the elements and of the megaphone walls, being similar to those of the preceding examples, as fully described.

It will be understood that other minor modifications are within the scope of our invention, which having been fully set forth,

' Y is defined in the following claims:

1. In a sound-producing instrument, a megaphone flaring forwardly, and a throat leading downwardly and forwardly into the rear end of said megaphone,

an element rigidly mounted across the central part of the interior cross-section of said megaphone in upright position, and spaced away from the upper, lower and lateral walls ofsaid megaphone, said megaphone being freely open from the space around the deflector to the outlet end of the megaphone, and said deflector being adapted to intercept soundwaves as they pass from said .throat and reflect them back toward said throat, for the purposes set forth.

2. In a' sound-producing instrument, a

-megaphone flaring forwardly, and a throat .to conduct sound-waves to said megaphone,

. ingthroat and reflect them back toward said throat, for-.the purposes set forth.

3. In a sound-producing instrument, a

megaphone flaring forwardly and receiving sound-waves, a deflector consisting of a relativelythin element lying across the central part of the interior cross-section 'of said megaphone, with its inner side fully exposed to sound-wave impacts throughout its ex= tent, from itscenter to its periphery, and a relatively thick rim around and rigidly secured to said element, and a sound-post comprising arelatively thin part rigidly securedto said rim, and a pedestal of relatively extended base area rigidly secured'to said thin part and rigidly secured to one of the walls of said megaphone to support said deflector, and to transmit vibrations of the deflector to said walls, or of said walls to said deflector, for the purposes set forth.

4.. In a sound producing instrument, a megaphone flaring forwardly and receiving sound-waves, a deflector consisting of a relatively thin element lying across the central part of the interior cross-section of said megaphone with its inner side fully exposed to sound-wave impacts throughout its extent, from its center to its periphery, and of approximately concavo-convex form, wherearound and rigidly secured to said element,

and a sound-post comprising a relatively thin part rigidly secured to said rim, and a pedestal of relatively extended base area rigidly secured to said thin partand to one of the walls of said megaphone to support said deflector, and to transmit vibrations of the deflector to said walls, or of said walls to said deflector, for the pn oses setforth. FR K A. LEE.

- FRANK G. ROSE.

4 Witnesses:

' JAMES N. RAMsEY, IRENE PARKER.

by a curved surface is presented to the sound-waves as they come through said 

